400 Lynn hospital workers join SEIU
More than 400 healthcare workers at Union Hospital in Lynn have voted to join Service Employees International Union, Local 1199.
Jeff Hall, a union spokesman, said the new members will choose a bargaining team by the end of August to negotiate a contract with Partners HealthCare, which owns the hospital.
Kwesi Jones, an operating room assistant at the hospital, said the push to organize started about four months ago. “We have nurses that are already part of a union and we saw how well they’re being treated, so the union came in and spoke to us,’’ Jones said.
He said workers believe collective bargaining could help them fend off layoffs or cuts due to the slumping economy.
Laura Fleming, a hospital spokeswoman, said Union Hospital already has a 26-year relationship with the SEIU because its nurses are unionized.
Last month, about 500 workers at Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester voted to join 1199 SEIU.
